@@ -496,19+498,28 @@ There is a new [Xfce based DVD/IMG installer](http://island.quantumachine.net/~s

* startxfce4 (I think that running startx from the root user starts Xfce, but running it from a regular user starts the non-Xfce GUI.)

## Tidbits

* startxfce4 (I think that running startx from the root user starts Xfce, but running it from a regular user starts the non-Xfce GUI.)

## Tidbits

-* In the default shell, **tcsh**, ctrl-d is equivalent to tab-tab in **bash**. And typing part of a previous command and then pressing the up key is equivalent to pressing ctrl-r and then typing part of a previous command.

+* In the default shell, **tcsh**, ctrl-d is equivalent to tab-tab in **bash**, both of which display possible auto completions. If the list of possible auto completions has changed, running the command rehash will update it. Typing part of a previous command and then pressing the up key is equivalent to pressing ctrl-r and then typing part of a previous command, both of which search previously run commands.

* **pkgin** is roughly equivalent to **apt-get**. They are both fairly straightforward command line package management utilities. Regular programs installed via pkgin are generally located in /usr/pkg/bin.

* Like Debian, DragonFly BSD is configured by default to use su by default rather sudo, which is the default in Ubuntu. Running su changes the user you are logged in within a single shell instance whereas sudo lets you run a single command as another user. Both programs default to changing the user to root user. To enable your regular user to use su to become root, as root run nano /etc/groups and then change the line wheel:*:0:root to wheel:*:root,yourusername except of course replace rourusername with your user name. Running su - will change the shell environment variables to that of the user to which you're changing.

* **pkgin** is roughly equivalent to **apt-get**. They are both fairly straightforward command line package management utilities. Regular programs installed via pkgin are generally located in /usr/pkg/bin.

* Like Debian, DragonFly BSD is configured by default to use su by default rather sudo, which is the default in Ubuntu. Running su changes the user you are logged in within a single shell instance whereas sudo lets you run a single command as another user. Both programs default to changing the user to root user. To enable your regular user to use su to become root, as root run nano /etc/groups and then change the line wheel:*:0:root to wheel:*:root,yourusername except of course replace rourusername with your user name. Running su - will change the shell environment variables to that of the user to which you're changing.

+* The console text editor vi is supposedly great, but if you're not familiar with it and some command you run opens some system file with it, it can be quite alarming. Don't panic! To exit without saving changes type :q! and then press enter.

+* The command line program man, short for manual, is very handy for finding out information about programs, system files and more. One way to navigate man pages is by using your arrow keys. You can exit out of a manual page by pressing the letter q on your keyboard. To learn more about the man command, run the command man man which will show you the manual page for the man command.

+* When your computer contacts another computer over the Internet, it converts server's name, such as example.com, to numbered address. The server's name is called a domain name and the numbered address is called an IP address, short for Internet protocol address. To find out which domain name goes with which IP address, you computer usually contacts a special server called a DNS server, DNS being an abbreviation of domain name system. DNS generally works pretty well automatically, but when it causes a problem, it can be very frustrating. As of DragonFly BSD 3.0.3, there's a non-critical DNS configuration setting that the DragonFly BSD installer doesn't set. The file /etc/hosts is a text file that can override DNS name-address bindings. The IP addresses 127.0.0.1 and ::1 always point to one's own computer, so your computer's domain name should always point to these two addresses. This is the setting that currently doesn't get set automatically. You can see or set your host name within the file /etc/rc.conf on a line by itself in the following format.

+

+ hostname="computername.localnetworkname"

+

+ And with that name, you can update your /etc/hosts file with your computer's domain name by editing it to contain the following lines.

+

+ ::1 localhost computername.localnetworkname

+ 127.0.0.1 localhost computername.localnetworkname

+

+* In DragonFly BSD the command *shutdown -p now* will shutdown and turn off your computer. Using the -h switch instead of -p will shutdown and halt the computer but not turn it off. In Debian and probably other Linux distributions, the command *shutdown -h now* will shutdown and turn off your computer. The -p switch isn't available, but there may be a way to shutdown and halt without turning off your computer.

* **Hammer** is hands down the best file system currently in existence. It has block level deduplication, it is supported out of the box by operating system with great underpinnings, and it runs great on regular hardware.

* **DragonFly BSD** is an awesome operating system for many reasons other than that it's the only OS with Hammer, but Hammer is why I'm making the switch. DragonFly's default GUI configuration is a bit rough around the edges for everyday use. But it's nothing that a little ironing can't fix.

* **[Xfce](http://xfce.org/)** is a lightweight yet feature rich desktop environment. It has maintains an excellent balance between [innovation and compatibility](http://lwn.net/Articles/430598/).

* **[Dissonance](https://bitbucket.org/varialus/dissonance)** is my fork of Apache Harmony, which is a clean room implementation of Java with a permissive license. Sun and now Oracle refuse to license the TCK, a tool used to validate Java compatibility, for use with Harmony. As a result of the dissonance caused by this refusal to cooperate with the community, Apache retired Harmony and resigned from the Java Community Process Executive Committee. I would have preferred for Apache and the community to have instead just written their own TCK, but I don't know what effects the dissonance had on their organization and it was their decision to make, so I can't blame them. It's unfortunate that such a great project has been effectively abandoned, and so it it is with that in mind that I call on the community to support Dissonance; make your own TCK and make it so much better so as to make passing Oracle's TCK effectively meaningless.

* **[Jython](http://www.jython.org/)** is Python written in Java. It's not included in DragonFly BSD by default, but it's a great tool and I use it.

* **ee** is roughly equivalent to **nano**. They are both easy to use command line text editors. The exit option will ask you whether you want to save. You can get to the exit confirmation by pressing Ctrl-[ and selecting 'a) leave editor'.

* **Hammer** is hands down the best file system currently in existence. It has block level deduplication, it is supported out of the box by operating system with great underpinnings, and it runs great on regular hardware.

* **DragonFly BSD** is an awesome operating system for many reasons other than that it's the only OS with Hammer, but Hammer is why I'm making the switch. DragonFly's default GUI configuration is a bit rough around the edges for everyday use. But it's nothing that a little ironing can't fix.

* **[Xfce](http://xfce.org/)** is a lightweight yet feature rich desktop environment. It has maintains an excellent balance between [innovation and compatibility](http://lwn.net/Articles/430598/).

* **[Dissonance](https://bitbucket.org/varialus/dissonance)** is my fork of Apache Harmony, which is a clean room implementation of Java with a permissive license. Sun and now Oracle refuse to license the TCK, a tool used to validate Java compatibility, for use with Harmony. As a result of the dissonance caused by this refusal to cooperate with the community, Apache retired Harmony and resigned from the Java Community Process Executive Committee. I would have preferred for Apache and the community to have instead just written their own TCK, but I don't know what effects the dissonance had on their organization and it was their decision to make, so I can't blame them. It's unfortunate that such a great project has been effectively abandoned, and so it it is with that in mind that I call on the community to support Dissonance; make your own TCK and make it so much better so as to make passing Oracle's TCK effectively meaningless.

* **[Jython](http://www.jython.org/)** is Python written in Java. It's not included in DragonFly BSD by default, but it's a great tool and I use it.

* **ee** is roughly equivalent to **nano**. They are both easy to use command line text editors. The exit option will ask you whether you want to save. You can get to the exit confirmation by pressing Ctrl-[ and selecting 'a) leave editor'.

-

-## Reminders

-* If NetworkManager Applet is installed, use it to override an unreliable DNS server rather than editing /etc/resolv.conf directly. Observed in NetworkManager 0.8.1 on Debian Squeeze.

-* In DragonFly BSD the command *shutdown -p now* will shutdown and turn off your computer. Using the -h switch instead of -p will shutdown and halt the computer but not turn it off. In Debian and probably other Linux distributions, the command *shutdown -h now* will shutdown and turn off your computer. The -p switch isn't available, but there may be a way to shutdown and halt without turning off your computer.

+* If NetworkManager Applet is installed, use it to override an unreliable DNS server rather than editing /etc/resolv.conf directly. Observed in NetworkManager 0.8.1 on Debian Squeeze. (This seems to not always work, particularly the first time you connect and perhaps after idling for a certain amount of time. I haven't narrowed down the exact cause.)

## Issues

* Varialus should ensure that these issues are properly logged. Yes, I know that they should be properly logged and I intend to eventually get them all logged. In the mean time hopefully my notes will help someone still trying to find the answers to life's persistent questions.

## Issues

* Varialus should ensure that these issues are properly logged. Yes, I know that they should be properly logged and I intend to eventually get them all logged. In the mean time hopefully my notes will help someone still trying to find the answers to life's persistent questions.